Arkanen
The Metropolitan Moon of Mystery The closest moon to the massive gas giant Liavara, Arkanen is a world who's origins are shrouded in the unknown and its history filled with conflict. With a short orbital period of only 34 days, the moon is tidal locked with Liavara, making it's parent star roll across the sky in a slow path each orbit around the colossal gaseous "Dreamer" world. The moon is a shimmering jewel in the backdrop of space, with silver and gold speckles on the day side surface, potted with rich green seas and veins of farmlands; while on the night side, sparkling cities stretch over the whole of the moon. Population 3.2 billion residents call Arkanen their home, most living in the densely packed, multi-tiered city-scapes that cover over 60% of the moon's surface. The remaining non-metropolitan areas of the moon are regulated farmlands, wildlife preserves, and fresh water oceans. The cities of Arkanen are thick and populous, with narrow streets busy with hover vehicles and alien flying mounts, and a vein-like supernetwork of mass transit systems for the majority of the residents. At the lowest levels of the cities, natural light rarely gleams down to the bottom, leaving only the technicolor glow of holo signs and city lamps. Residents shield themselves from the pseudo-rain of the lower levels from the constantly leaking water pipes from the upper levels. Mold and disease are always being combated, and pest control at the bottom layers is difficult. Among the cable strung streets and narrow alleyways, neerdowells and ragamuffin gangs fight over territory, resources, and misplaced pride; rarely molested by law enforcement until their crimes become too high profile to ignore. Windward adventurers and shadow-hackers wage a covert guerrilla war against their corporate masters in the upper levels. And in the middle of all of this chaos are the countless innocent people just trying to eek out an honest living in small self-made shops. Most of the population of Arkanen live in this twilight, where generations of locals are born, live, grow old, and die without seeing the light of the sun. In the higher levels of the cities more natural light is available as the forest of buildings thins out. In the middle tiers of the city-scape, pedestrian skyways arch between buildings, and hovering parks give home to flora and recreational activities. Here is where corporations set up their offices along side the official Cartel-State bureaus offices. Many law enforcement agencies house their headquarters in these middle levels, sending their employees and professionals down into the depths to keep the peace. At the highest tier of the cities, in sky flung penthouses and cloud covered spires, is the Cartel-State of Arkanen (CSA); a small group of formally independent corporations, producers, and criminal organizations who act as the dominating governmental body of the moon of Arkanen. While most cartels focus on increasing their collective profits by means of price fixing, limiting supply, or other restrictive practices; the CSA's reach and scope is more inline with a non-representational confederacy. Where instead of geographic regions making up the members of the confederation, the CSA is a collective of companies and crime families, whose leadership and ranking is constantly shifting. Members use political sway and sometimes military force to dominate or push out other members. Even with all of this political shifting, the CSA remains Arkanen's most stable government body, and has been in power for the past 200 years. History The Pact Worlds generally see moons as part of their parent planet’s jurisdiction, allowing the planet full governmental control over their satellite bodies. Arkanen is unique in this matter as it has successfully lobbied for it's own independent representation under The Pact and has broken away from it's planet, Liavara. The Cartel-State of Arkanen (CSA) fought long and hard to give their home moon independence, granting the moon total governmental sovereignty. The CSA then established a laissez faire economic policy across the moon, leading to a massive influx of corporations and businesses from all over The Pact Worlds; in what is now historically known as "The Great Blowout". Arkanen remains to this day a hotbed for intergalactic commerce, where companies test the latest products in hyper competitive micro economies; where products and trendy fads flare up and die out in a constant storm of corporate Darwinism. It is said that if anyone can make it in the fast and brutal world of business on the small Metropolitan Moon of Mystery, they can dominate any market anywhere in the galaxy! Astronomy Arkanen is constantly bleeding off its atmosphere from solar winds, starting at its thickest pressure at a comfortable 14~psi to its thinnest point of a dizzying 8~psi. Visitors to Arkanen during the thickest times of its orbit might find the climate to be muggy and humid, where as during the later thinner times of its orbit might experience symptoms mirroring altitude sickness; fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, shortness of breath, and headaches. During the final stages of its eccentric orbit, the moon actually takes a dip through Liavara’s upper atmosphere; replenishing Arkanen's atmosphere back to comfortable levels. Extremely dangerous storms, called "Orbital Storms" by the locals, arise during this 4 day replenishment period as huge lightning bolts arc between the two worlds. The whole surface of Arkanen is swarmed by thick storm clouds, winds pick up to speeds of 40~mph, and heavy rainfall is common in most areas. The energy of these storms is harnessed by resident scientists and spellcasters, and corporations replenish their massive stores of cubic miles of battery banks. Most, if not all, of Arkanen's energy needs are provided by these titanic orbital storms. This orbit should be impossible according to normal physical models, as Arkanen's orbit should have decayed millennia ago and forced it to crash into its parent planet's surface. This fact leads many to believe that the moon is artificial, and built specifically as a power source. Discoveries deep below the moon's surface have uncovered massive ruins and ancient machinery, some of it gathering and storing the energy from the orbital storms. What the arcane dynamo might have been designed to power remains unknown.